Cover price of Metro Manila newspapers

	Weekdays	Sundays
BusinessMirror	25	25*
BusinessWorld	25	25*
Daily Tribune	15	15
Malaya	15	15*
Manila Bulletin	18	20
Manila Standard Today	15	15*
Manila Times	15	15
Philippine Daily Inquirer	18	20
Philippine Star	20	20

*No Sunday paper

Inquirer.net: Sy Yinchow: world's oldest, longest-serving editor-in-chief

INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Lawrence Casiraya interviews Sy Yinchow in Binondo.

Reflections on Meyer's Vanishing Newspaper

A good product is an investment. A good newspaper will have to spend on recruiting good talent -- editors, reporters, photographers -- and paying them well. The news hole is where their output appears. This is a cost because the space could be otherwise devoted to revenue-generating advertising.
A good product will attract a circulation base which will in turn be the basis for attracting advertisers. Advertising accounts for 82% of newspaper revenues in the U.S.
There is a limit to how much advertising a newspaper can take. If it does not increase the number of pages, more ads means a smaller news hole. Readers will notice any significant reduction in the news hole.
Increasing the number of pages -- and retaining (or increasing) the amount of space devoted to editorial content -- may raise revenues, but will also increase production cost, particularly that of newsprint.
It is possible that overall, more ads may result in a net loss because of higher costs.
Meyer reports that some newspapers even resort to cutting circulation (hence, lower paper cost) in order to stay profitable.
A newcomer, with hardly any advertising, may employ sensationalism in order to attract readers, even if they do not qualify as quality readers. The newspaper can use this circulation base to bait advertisers. Since the readership is not a high quality, the newspaper may be limited to low-end advertisers.
A higher advertising revenue may prompt the newspaper to invest in better talent that will produce better material that will appeal to a better quality readership that in turn will attract the top advertisers.
It is also possible that big advertisers may approach the newspaper and demand better editorial quality appropriate to the products they advertise. This will explain why some nascent publications, like tabloids, employ racy photographs and sensationalized materials at first. As they mature, their standards will improve if they want to attract and keep better advertisers.
Some of today's tabloids that now call themselves respectable were once sleazy (there are varying degrees of sleaze) especially during their early years. Tempo and the People's tabloids today emulate prestige broadsheets. Bulgar and Abante are shedding some of their seedy qualities.

Murdoch: Great Journalism & Great Judgment

The Future of Newspapers: Moving Beyond Dead Trees
Speech delivered on 16 Nov. 2008 by Rupert Murdoch in the (Sir Richard) Boyer Lectures (in which he also talks about new technology). Read the complete transcript archived by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. or listen.

I'm no Murdoch, but conversations with newspaper publishers and editors, coupled with personal observations, have convinced me in recent years that the future of newspaper publishing is bleak, but on the other hand, the future of journalism is brighter than ever. Take it from Murdoch himself.

Highlights

• I believe that newspapers will reach new heights. In the 21st century, people are hungrier for information than ever before. And they have more sources of information than ever before.
• Readers want ... a source they can trust. That has always been the role of great newspapers in the past. And that role will make newspapers great in the future.
• Our real business isn't printing on dead trees. It's giving our readers great journalism and great judgment.
• In the coming decades, the printed versions of some newspapers will lose circulation. But if papers provide readers with news they can trust, we'll see gains in circulation—on our web pages, through our RSS feeds, in emails delivering customised news and advertising, to mobile phones.
• We are moving from news papers to news brands. ...There is a social and commercial value in delivering accurate news and information in a cheap and timely way. In this coming century, the form of delivery may change, but the potential audience for our content will multiply many times over.
• It's not newspapers that might become obsolete. It's some of the editors, reporters, and proprietors who are forgetting a newspaper's most precious asset: the bond with its readers.
  

Challenges

• Competition ... from new technology — especially the internet.
• The more serious challenge is the complacency and condescension that festers at the heart of some newsrooms. The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly—and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted.
• The condescension that many show their readers is an even bigger problem. It takes no special genius to point out that if you are contemptuous of your customers, you are going to have a hard time getting them to buy your product.
  

Who decides what's news?

• It used to be that a handful of editors could decide what was news—and what was not. They acted as sort of demigods. If they ran a story, it became news. If they ignored an event, it never happened.
• Editors are losing this power. The internet, for example, provides access to thousands of new sources that cover things an editor might ignore. And if you aren't satisfied with that, you can start up your own blog and cover and comment on the news yourself.
• Instead of finding stories that are relevant to their readers' lives, papers run stories reflecting their own interests. Instead of writing for their audience, they are writing for their fellow journalists. And instead of commissioning stories that will gain them readers, some editors commission stories whose sole purpose is the quest for a prize.
  

Demand for news remains strong

• Readers want news as much as they ever did. Today The Times of London is read by a diverse global audience of 26 million people each month. That is an audience larger than the entire population of Australia. That single statistic tells you that there is a discerning audience for news.
• The operative word is discerning. To compete today, you can't offer the old one-size-fits-all approach to news.
• The defining digital trend in content is the increasing sophistication of search. You can already customise your news flow, whether by country, company or subject. A decade from now, the offerings will be even more sophisticated. You will be able to satisfy your unique interests and search for unique content.
• The (Wall Street) Journal is already the only US. newspaper that makes real money online. One reason for this is a growing global demand for business news and for accurate news. Integrity is not just a characteristic of our company, it is a selling point.
  

Three Tiers of Content

• News that we put online for free.
  
• For those who subscribe to wsj.com.
  
• A premium service, designed to give its customers the ability to customise high-end financial news and analysis from around the world.

Oral History of Romeo Gacad

By Anna Isabel C. Rodriguez

Isa: My name is Anna Isabel Rodriguez and I'm here to interview Mr. Romeo Gacad. For the record sir, could you please state your name and present employment?

Mr. Gacad: My name is Romeo Gacad. I am the chief photographer of Agence France-Presse

Q: Okay, so for the first question, how do you describe what it is that you do?

A: My work?

Q: Yes, your work

A: Well, so photojournalist we cover (current events) here in Manila, being in charge of what's happening here in the Philippines and in the other parts of the region, in Asia and Mindanao. As chief photographer I’m responsible for delivering, covering pictures of breaking news in Manila as well as events in Mindanao, news about President Gloria Arroyo, politics, environment, human interest and interesting personalities.

Q: So, almost everything?

A: Almost everything because Agence France Presse is an international news agency. So when it comes to news anywhere from human interest to politics to conflict, bloody wars..

Q: How did you get into photography? What influenced you?

A: It’s a long story but just to make it short it started as a simple interest. My brother bought his camera. I saw it and I got to use it and I got to borrow my brother's camera. Right away I was fascinated kasi I was taking pictures and then having developed and I can see my pictures. Then my brother-in-law taught me basic darkroom techniques. So I was shooting and printing my own pictures so that even made my interest stronger because I shoot what I can see. From then on so I got hooked and fascination turned into passion and that is when I finally got my own camera. In high school I became the photographer for the school paper, that was in the third year. In the fourth year I became editor of the newspaper. In college I decided to take up Fine Arts, major in Visual Arts.

Q: So all the while you were geared towards being a photojournalist?

A: Well, I have these thoughts of enrolling in the college of architecture but then I think the Fine Arts became more of my interest and it's related to what my main interest is which is photography so I took up visual communication which is graphic design and photography is one of the subjects for two semesters which is basically (..) but when I took up the photography course I had enough knowledge about what is basic and what is advanced.

Q: How about your brother? Did he become a photographer?

A: My brother, no he was just a, he’s happy snapping pictures and shooting, he’s an engineer so he travels all the time and he was carrying his camera and there were times na its just there in the house no? (…)

Q: Okay so, what made you decide that you wanted to be a photojournalist? That you wanted it to be your profession?

A: Since I started shooting, and uh theres something in photography, can I say, that I fell in love with or I think it’s the medium which is well at the time its not that instantaneous parang you take the picture and it starts with a simple thing like shooting your classmate or your friends or your mom or your dad or your brother, sister so I had fun but then as I was looking at my pictures parang I begin to see that im telling stories with what with my photograph and that’s where I what happens why (..) so I looked at them and studied and how I can improve the pictures. So basically photography for me is self study and I went to photojournalism most of the time. So I bought this bargain photography magazines, modern photography, popular photography, they were just selling it for, at the time, 5 pesos, 10 pesos, and the film at the time was very cheap so black and white something like 5 pesos also, 7 pesos and it was fun. Being in the darkroom also, its another experience that you guys now, you don’t.. kasi its creating your own picture

Q: They just removed the darkroom

A: Yeah

Q: ..in our course

A: Now its gone

Q: Yeah

A: With the new digital camera, everything is simplified, the process has been simplified tremendously.

Q: So, um, okay, How were you able to penetrate the industry, from photography being your hobby to being a serious photojournalist?

A: Well I was a photographer for the school paper so talagang I put my heart into photography and a that was the start of my career then becoming the editor, then taking up Fine Arts, visual communication, parang it honed my artistic skills in the medium. So we learn about composition, we learn about style, we learn about light, we learn about visual perception which is very important when it comes to being a photographer. And then theres you if you get to study the courses in humanities and which gives you a whole or rounded knowledge of the visual arts so fine arts I would apply the artistry, standards in my picture.

Q: So,

A: Oh yes, artistry (..)

Q: So, okay, moving on to journalism in the Philippines, Describe your typical day and how is it different now from before, the early years of journalism..

And to the present?

Q: Yes the present

A: Well, at the time, you know, everything is film, processed, so the basic comparison for this, for you to produce pictures that are to be published, with the film camera, it would take one, or from the time you used to take the picture, you develop and you have it printed and to send the picture to our international clients, so its something 30 minutes to 45 minutes, but with the digital technology, everything is so fast, yeah, it’s a lot faster and in fact one of the Olympic games that I covered and world cup to ah, that I covered, it would take at least from the time you take a picture and the picture will land in the newspaper, just ten to 15 minutes.

Q: Fast ah

A: Yes, That is the technology now.

Q: Wow..

A: With the digital camera

Q: But then, Do you think that, there are perks but in making the whole process faster but then do you think that there’s something lost in the art, because of digitalization? You say that its very fun in the dark room, what do you think got lost, did you think something did or it was like..

A: No, its not lost in a way na talagang lost, how do I say this, its not total lost, in fact, its more like trying to satisfy the demands of time, basically the publication kasi they want news in pictures and immediately that fast so yung ganoong demand, digital technology, is the answer, and the only thing is when it comes to film, digital compared to film, film is something more permanent, digital, unless you have the proper set up, you have a back up system, you have this terabyte files where you can store your mountains of pictures, in one month I will normally have a mountain of digital pictures, something happens to your hard disk, so all your pictures, gone. That’s the sad part. But then you have invested so much that you have to protect your files, your duplicate, then make sure that if one goes down, you have a back up system. But with the film, the film is something permanent. You keep it in the proper archival condition so that it can last a hundred years, even more, now you see a card, a dvd, ten years after so who knows no? Getting smaller, smaller dvds, so that’s the advantage and disadvantage.

Q: So, one by one could you please state the names of the newspapers or agencies you were employed in and for how long you were working in each.

A: I started as a, well, in UP, I became the photographer for the Philppine Collegian, that was sometime 78 and that was the time where the Martial Law was close to the end, There’s so..

I was still there, I was still there in UP during that time, in the college of law

A: So the time na talagang, that was a very interesting period of when I started in photography, parang the period from 76 when I entered college hanggang 83 (..) Marcos, the daily protests and you have this issues on insurgencies all these stories I did, I was in the Collegian, Spent one year with the government, with the Ministry of Human Settlements, That was for Imelda Marcos, but I told myself, ill have one year (…) but it was a good experience because it brought me around the country, Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao. I was basically shooting mga ano, mga housing projects of Imelda Marcos, especially the (..) of the housing project, ofcourse one year, so tama na yun. I started doing freelance again working for alternative publication like Mrs. Who magazine, (…) and then Mr. and Miss, those publications, and these are the, tawag ni Marcos dun, the mosquito press. I think the issue there is there is a semblance of press freedom, you check how much circulation does this publication have, just a few thousand so part of (…) giving freedom but very limited. So from there, I did some freelance work. I became a stringer for Associated Press and also became a photographer for Sigma Picture Agency, these a based in New York, Paris and London, so I was doing assignment for them and that time I made my first cover of Newsweek magazine for Sigma News Agency, it was Marcos and Imelda in an Independence parade in Luneta, it was after, or was it before the Sandiganbayan case ni Ninoy. So from then on, 83, I was freelancing, but then 85 I joined Agence France Presse.

Q: So you’ve been there since?

A: Yes, ever since. 85 to the present. That’s more than 22 years.

Q: Okay so, during the early years, what was it like in, what was it like, what was journalism like? Lets start with physical location, the offices they had..

A: Early years?

Q: Yeah

A: Well early years, what was (..)?

Q: I think they were all near intramuros?

A: Sorry?

Q: Intramuros? And the piers?

A: Oh, well, newspapers, yes. They are based in Manila, most of them Intramuros parang it’s a very convenient location and they have their printing press and the office at the same time. The place offers them the (…) And you have the National Press club but theats the newspaper.. The international news agency most of them were also in Manila at that time until mga later on so they all left manila and moved too Makati, etc.

Q: So moving on, There are such things as cub reporters, are there anything similar to photojourrnalists?

A: Oh yeah, youre (…), a Greenhorn. You get to be initiated by your editors or by your superiors. So superiors and collegues..

Q: So were you ever one of then and what were your experiences as one?

A: Well, not really kasi I know what I was doing so theres not, but I encourage students to do that in journalism, its something like you still don’t know your direction so you enter that job or profession not knowing very well what to expect. But, in my case, I know what im doing, I know what I want and then I relate to people around me. People around me, colleages and the subjects and my stories.

Q: What about your first beat? What was it?

A: The first beat? First beat at the time yun yung protesta period, almost everyday, theres a demonstration, Mendiola, then theres a lot of back biting issues yung mga press violation, election of (…) Ninoy and (…) so.. What was it again?

Q: What was your first beat? So?

A: First beat, oo, protest, a lot of protests.and pag may protests parang its something na if your just a plain photographer you try to cover the protest without really knowing the issue. I think you wont come up with a very strong work or strong pictures. Its important for the journalist and the photographer that what are the issues that he’s covering so you’ll have a way na popost mo yung picture in a way that the viewers will better understand. Its difficult when somebody who doesn’t understand he goes there, stands in one place or one position, takes pictures and then goes back to the office, parang ganun. I know of some photographers who are that way. So its important you have an indepth knowledge of..

Q: How about how journalists relate to their editors, what are their attitudes or deadlines?

A: Well, theres this saying na parang Photographers are second class in the media industry and theres that kind of sentiment. Now I think its improved. Photographers have shown that pictures can tell more stories. As they say no, a picture is worth a thousand words. Kay but then you must have the ability of coming up with a picture that will tell the whole story, kasi in one picture, theres, it’s the story telling value of one photograph.

Q: Ok so, lets go to your experiences as a photographer or journalist. What were your best memories as a young photojournalist?

A: Yeah, well since, something young, (…) I think it was the most interesting period of contemporary Filipino history, di ba? Your dad would say..

That’s true!

A: Diba Atty?

Yeah, yeah.

A: Kasi compared right now diba? Its at the time when the whole country tried to change the government, oppose Marcos, I think it brought the good and the bad to everybody eh. In that period, as a photographer, as a journalist, what you learn in school, you learn more in the street, in theory than in practice. All these protests you do almost everyday and the Ninoy, I think that was the turning point of everyone being (…) Its hard to be detached no? At the same time that’s a professional.. you must be objective fair, you must present both sides. But then, the sentiment was so strong parang you trying to share the same issues but you have to stop at some point so.. or you’ll end up being accused as biased.

But that was the (…) period, 76 to the present, the other interesting assignment that I did was the three US wars that I covered. In 1991, I was there in, I spent two months traveling in Turkey, which Is the northern border of Iraq then finally we went to Kuwait after.. and then the second war, was the war on terror in Afghanistan after the 9/11 in New York. So when I was assigned to get myself to Afghanistan, so I was waiting for the right time in Pakistan, waiting for the right moment. The Mujahideen fighters and that was stopped because I had four close calls. I was there in Tora Bora, Well, Tora Bora is the place where Americans and the Mujahideen were hunting Osama Bin Laden. It was reported that in the mountains of Tora Bora. Anyway, theyre shelling, theyre bombing, its quiet then suddenly its going to fight. I was in one of the captured camp of the Taliban. And then I decided to stay behind when the others left, and we were in a bunker together with the other Mujahideen and just about ten or twenty meters from the bunker there was this tree na very (….) those are the legendary Mujahideen who fought with the Taliban. I went down and stood there trying to take a picture when I heard a gunshot so I looked towards where the gunshot came from and the bullet just landed 6 inches from my foot. There was a sniper.

Q: Trying to shoot you?

Trying to kill me.

A: Okay.

Q: So I run and everybody runs towards the bunker and I just waited until (…) and that’s it,

Mr. Romeo Gacad was born on October 3, 1959 in Quezon City. He attended the University of the Philippines College of Fine arts where he majored in Visual Arts. At the time of the interview, he was chief photographer of the AFP.

Oral History of Melinda Quintos de Jesus

August 19, 2008
By Kris Ephraim M. Baylon and Joanna Marie S. Eduardo

BAYLON: We’re here for our final project and I’m Kris Baylon and I’m with Joanna Eduardo and we’re here with Miss Melinda Quintos de Jesus for an interview. Miss, for the record, could you please state your name and your present employment.

DE JESUS: I’m Melinda Quintos de Jesus. I am the executive director and founder of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, a private foundation, a non-government organization, NGO as we put it that looks at the issues of press freedom and responsibility.

EDUARDO: So how long have you been a journalist?

DE JESUS: Too long. I still consider myself as a journalist, although I’m not in the current mainstream. So if you count the period in which I have been engaged in, you want to call it print, I started out in television documentary writing in the 70’s.

BAYLON: Miss, what are the factors that made you decide to be a journalist?

DE JESUS: Okay. I actually didn’t decide. In my time, which was several generations from you, most people, women, who graduated, generally did not think of themselves in a career specifically, because most of us ended up getting married, and that was what we were thinking of. And so my career actually developed quite by serendipity and this is what I tell other people who have asked me this question: “How did you become a journalist?” Actually, because the opportunities came out. And I was invited first to write documentaries for then Channel 13, which was one of the first institutions, press institutions, to examine the television documentary as part of public affairs and news coverage. So from there, I had to travel with my husband for his graduate studies, and then I returned. Again, it was by invitation. They would say, “Are you interested in writing for…?” or “Would you join us this…?” And that was how I got in as a columnist of the Bulletin Today. So it was all actually quite by, what they call, happy happenstance, that I became, what you might call, a journalist. I studied English Literature with electives in Journalism. And that’s why I, you know, had some kind of preparation for the demands of the career. And I was also involved in campus journalism, so I was editing Chi Rho, the publication of Maryknoll College. And that was where it all began, I imagine.

BAYLON: Miss, we understand that you’ve worked with several news publications in the Philippines. And Miss, again, for the record, could you enumerate some of the newspapers you’ve worked in?

DE JESUS: Okay. I was a columnist for the Bulletin Today, which was the Bulletin during the period of Martial Law. Just one of the few papers that was allowed to operate almost rather quickly after Martial Law was declared. It was owned by Hans Menzi. And by 1991, when Martial Law was formally lifted, he was ready to test the waters, and invited women columnists to write for the op. ed. So I became a columnist, then, hoping that I would simply write on the issues of education, of family, because those were mainly my concerns, but very quickly became a political critic. Before that, I edited two magazines: TV times, which looked at television during a period when you could not critique anything else and Balikbayan, which was a magazine that was designed for our overseas Filipino workers, which was then only beginning to form themselves as a constituency. I was also associate editor and columnist of Veritas News Weekly. That was during the latter period of the Marcos regime. No longer technically Martial Law, but still with a lot of the features of Martial Law. After the end of the Marcos dictatorship, I wrote a column for Philippine Daily Inquirer, for the Philippine Star. After that, The Manila Times, The Evening News. Those were probably the, you know, the four newspapers. There were probably a few more.

EDUARDO: Was there one newspaper wherein you stayed the longest?

DE JESUS: I would have to count Veritas, where I was associate editor, and then became editor, when Felix Bautista left the paper. And I was writing also as a columnist and the editorials, and, basically, supervised and managed the coverage of Veritas News Weekly. It was a weekly magazine.

BAYLON: Okay. Miss, let’s move to Bulletin Today, your stay in Bulletin Today. I understand that you’ve worked there and I would like to know more about your work experience there.

DE JESUS: I was invited to be one of the women columnists as I said, right? And then after 2 years, in 1983, when Ninoy Aquino, the former senator, was scheduled, it was already reported that he was going to return to the Philippines. We were slowly eased out of our jobs. Basically, we’re asked to stop writing. And I was the last of the women columnists to be asked to leave. And the explanation was that the then President Marcos was very nervous about the imminent return of his most important critic or oppositionist. And after we were asked to leave in August, this anniversary, this month, August 21?

BAYLON: Yes.

DE JESUS: He was shot when he arrived in the airport, and that was what basically blew the lid off the simmering ferment; questions being raised against how the dictatorship could continue for so long. And so the history of it, and it was history in the making, was that the press, the print media, basically took the lead in engaging the citizenry in the task of reviewing and criticizing more openly what was wrong with the Marcos regime. Okay, so if you want me to talk about Bulletin Today, it was the period in which we tested the waters because Martial Law was formally lifted, meaning it was announced that there was no longer any Martial Law. But there were still orders that you can actually arrest, you can detain, without any question. And so the many features of it remain, and so we felt that there were things still that needed to be criticized. And one of the columnists then, Miss Arlene Babst, felt that he should include more women. . . And so that was how I got engaged in the Bulletin. After which was Veritas. And Veritas, to my mind, was the more important kind of publication in which to be engaged, because we were really out there to make sure that the news that was not being shown in the Marcos newspapers, that we would come out and show them.

BAYLON: Okay.

DE JESUS: And print them. Printing stories.

BAYLON: Miss, since you’ve worked with so many publications now, we’re also interested in how these publications were, I mean, in terms of their physical locations and their facilities and how they print.

DE JESUS: They’re basically almost all the same. I mean, in the sense that you cannot operate without the minimum. Okay? So you have to have the minimum resources to be able to operate something, to print something. And much of that is, you know, it doesn’t require very much. Right now, with the kind of software that you have, one or three or four people can come up with a newspaper. The thing that would be raised is that printing it on print, on the paper, in ink, that’s the thing that really costs money. And of course now, with the greater demand for coverage of every kind, then you need a broader staff, etc. So which one had most of that, that question is answered simply: which publications had more money. Okay?

BAYLON: Miss, when you were practicing your journalism career, who were the people you’ve worked with? I mean the prominent people you’ve worked with?

QUINTOS DE JESUS: In what way do you mean? I mean members of the press?

BAYLON: Yes Miss, members of the press.

DE JESUS: So we were working with the publishers or the owners of the publications. So in Bulletin, we were working with Hans Menzi, who had been running the Bulletin Today for as long as anybody can remember, actually, because it was one of the first dailies, okay, that, basically, was able to establish itself as a business. It was able to establish itself as a business because it had primary dissemination. It could distribute itself, which requires a lot of money—so that it could claim national circulation. The Bulletin had that. And therefore, out of which, it was able to establish the classified ads, which, until now, remains one of its major revenue earners. If you want to advertise anything that you want to sell, buy, you put it in the Bulletin’s classified ads. And nothing has matched that. Okay, so you have to have that. But everything else that wants to establish itself in the print media has to have the resources for printing, for buying the paper, for getting the ink, for establishing a news network.

BAYLON: Miss, when you were a columnist in the Bulletin Today, how were your editors? I mean in terms of the deadlines?

DE JESUS: We were given very regular deadlines because we were given the days in which we would come out with a column and, therefore, as a columnist, it’s a completely different ball game from those who are working on the news beats, where they have to look for the stories, and they have to find the stories, and therefore have to file the stories on a daily basis. If you’re a columnist, you have a regular slot that you fill up on a regular time table. I was assigned two days in a week and on those two days, you had to submit on the deadline that was given to you. Basically, we submitted it to the assistant (editor). Was it the editor? And the. . . deputy editor, was Pat Gonzales. ( now dead.) They would read through it, make sure that it wasn’t libelous or it was . . .the kind of criticism that they could tolerate. And so, every now and then, they would edit out a paragraph or so that they found a little bit, you know, too offensive or too sensitive.

BAYLON: Miss, in terms of the grammar and those particular things in the articles that you write

EDUARDO: How were they, the editors?

DE JESUS: They did not have to correct very much because we were established writers. They did not have to correct much grammar in our copy. Today, you have to have copywriters, I think, copy editors. And actually, they have to go through the grammar and through the remarks on how English is written. I mean I don’t have to talk about that, am I right? We are losing the facility for good English and yet we insist that English is our national language for print. And that is where the problem is.

EDUARDO: So who would you consider to be a memorable editor of yours and why?

DE JESUS: You see, I also function as an editor for Veritas News Weekly and in that sense, I was an editor in the most exciting period. I worked with my editor, Felix Bautista, who was in, you know, news editor from cast in the old mode, you know, daily journalism, going after the stories as they came. . . quite a bit of the work actually fell on my shoulder, so I would say working with somebody like Felix Bautista was a good experience for me as we tried to combine the kinds of ways in which we worked together. Who were the other editors? I edited TV Times Magazine. Rod Reyes then was my editor/publisher so I would have to include among the important or significant personalities, Felix Bautista, Rodolfo Reyes, who asked me again to write for him in The Evening News. I also got to know pretty well Raul Locsin, who founded and edited the Business Day, because we worked together as colleagues. He was not my editor. I never worked for him, but basically, we had a lot of meetings where we talked about the issues that confronted us, and I invited him quite a bit as a resource person for the work that we do at the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Who were the others? Teddy Benigno, of course, who was running a ‘Agence france’. He wrote a number of articles for Veritas, and . . . he was one of the older senior journalists that had earned their place in Philippine journalism. Currently, there is Luis Teodoro, who is the editor of Philippine Journalism Review. And Vergel Santos, who is one of our members of the board of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, who is the chairman of the board of advisers, editorial advisers for Business World.

BAYLON: Miss, when you were working as a journalist, how long did you have to work? And did you have rest days?

DE JESUS: I worked on my own time, basically. When I was editing the paper, however, we worked, we planned the issues, and then we put aside a day or so when we were simply putting the issues together. So in journalism, you do not have ‘how many hours do you work?’, you work for as long as the story is there to be written and to be, you know, to be collected and to be reported, to collect the data, so that you could report. So there is no timeframe to do these stories except your deadline. You had to have a deadline. If it was the daily deadline, then you had to have your story at that certain point that the editor gave to you, so time is not the element, you know. ‘How many hours?’ is not a ‘bundy clock’ job, okay?

EDUARDO: How about the salaries back then?

BAYLON: Did you have a fixed salary?

DE JESUS: Yes, we had fixed salaries. They paid columnist per piece which was fixed and as editors also, we were hired on a salary basis. Yes, a monthly salary.

BAYLON: Okay, Miss.

DE JESUS: It’s not functional to compare, you know, how we were paid then, because the cost of gasoline was different then. Alright, so there’s no point in saying we were paid so much. ‘Oh my God! Was that all you were paid?’ Actually, we were, you know, we were probably paid more buying power because of the economy . . .that is a different kind of economy in that period.

BAYLON: Miss, have you ever been a cub reporter?

DE JESUS: No.

BAYLON: No?

M: In that sense, my career is different, okay? I came in. I was asked to write for television, and so I pitched stories. I said I want to do the story to the news director or to the public affairs. Actually, he was the head of Channel 13. He invited me to come in and basically said, ‘Would you like to do a television documentary on a regular basis?’ And basically, I would suggest the topics and I would research it. I would write it up. I would then get a TV team to work with me in the camera, and the editors to work with me on that page so in a sense, I basically came in on a different career track.

BAYLON: Okay Miss, you mentioned earlier about the news beats.

EDUARDO: What was your first beat?

DE JESUS: I did not get in on the beats. Remember, okay? So I did not get hired. I did not come in and they say, ‘Okay, you go to the police beat.’ I got hired as, basically, a writer and producer who, basically, put together the program that they would come out. It’s a completely different ball game when you’re hired on that basis. If you’re looking for different career tracks, my career track was different. So I wrote a column. In my columns, I chose, I did the research, I went and did my own interviews, and when that column was ready, I filed it and submitted it for publication. So go and ask, you know, leave it to the others who are interviewing other people who are going through, you know, what beat were you assigned etc., etc. I chose my beats and I chose the areas that were not being covered by other people.

EDUARDO: So what were the significant events that you have covered like, for one, Martial Law? How? Could you discuss those?

DE JESUS: There’s nothing that can compare with the coverage of 1983-1986. There was a historic change that happened in this country that people have to review every now and then to learn those lessons. Basically, the print media played a critical role. We, in the alternative press, it was called the alternative press or the ‘mosquito’ press.

EDUARDO: Yes.

DE JESUS: We chose to look for the stories that could not be covered in the crony press of the time, and therefore, allowed a significant critical mass of Filipinos to get to know the truth that they could not find in the controlled press. How can you compare that with anything now that everything is free and that people are basically ‘free’ to a certain point, okay? And that newspapers are basically competing more for revenues, for the scoop, for the first to be there, you know, in terms of big stories. Sometimes, what’s happening now is that they miss the stories still that are not told. Why? Because it’s easier to go after the sensationalisms.

BAYLON: Miss, do you have any specific personal experiences that you’ve encountered?

EDUARDO: For example, during coup attempts, EDSA, rallies, any experience?

BAYLON: Encounters?

EDUARDO: Yes.

DE JESUS: Yeah. Well, you know, when you have bombs going over you head, when you have parts of the military fighting other parts of the military. How can you describe going through that and writing about it? I was then both a radio columnist as well as a print columnist. In the coup attempts of 1987 and again in 1989, where basically the city of Manila became a war zone, I would have to say that that is one of the most unforgettable periods. But then, it was not just me as a journalist going through that. It was, basically, a lot of ordinary people going through that experience of seeing clashes on the streets and sometimes, being part of the, you know, exchange of fire or being caught in the crossfire. For example, if you look at what’s happening in Mindanao now, you know, it’s a lot of civilians and ordinary people, not necessarily the media that is experiencing. So it’s good for us to recall the times when we experienced it ourselves, not just as journalists but as ordinary citizens. What other things? It was wonderful to be able to see a new president that was going to open up democratic space. And the Aquino presidency has to be re-revisited again and again for the kind of hard work that it required to be able to establish and recover democracy. And much of my writing in that period, post-1986, focused on the dilemmas of democracy, and how difficult it is to have a democracy work within the limits of our development.

DE JESUS: One last question. I think we can finish. You choose what is your most important question.

EDUARDO: What can you say about the current status of the journalism in the country?

BAYLON: And what’s it’s future?

DE JESUS: Journalism is a continuing, learning experience. You are not a real journalist unless you are willing to learn and re-learn. Why? Because you are covering change. You are reporting on actual changing world. And many journalists don’t see that change. And they have to be taken away from the daily grind for them to realize that the story is actually about the changing institutions, the breaking up of institutions, and the recovery of those institutions. And so, that is what print media and all of media, journalistic media, need to find: the skills to be able to make relevant to a public that needs the press to help them learn about democracy and the requirements of democracy.

BAYLON: In behalf of my partner, Joanna Eduardo, we’d like to thank you for this time that you’ve given for this interview.

EDUARDO: Even if it’s very abrupt.

DE JESUS: Thank you. You’re welcome. And thank you for coming.

_____________________________________________________________

Born on July 20, 1944 in Manila, Ms. Melinda Quintos de Jesus is the current Executive Director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Having graduated in Maryknoll College in 1964 with the degree of B.A., Major in English Literature, she has worked in radio, television, film, and print. She has worked as a columnist and an editor in many of the Philippine news publications including Bulletin Today (Manila Bulletin), Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Times, Philippine Star, and Veritas News Magazine.

Oral History of Ester Dipasupil

By: Martie Plaza and Andrew Aniceto

Aniceto: I’m Andrew Aniceto. I’m a Commarts major and we’re doing an oral history project for our INTPRIN class
Martie: I’m Martie Plaza and I’m commarts major. I’m partners with Dru Aniceto and we’re doing an oral history report for INTPRIN class
Dipasupil: Hi, I’m Ester Dipasupil. I’m the Metro editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Aniceto: So Miss let’s start napo noh? Uhm..How long po have you been in the Inquirer?
Dipasupil: This is my 4th year. I joined Inquirer..in 2004
Aniceto: 2004 po. Tapos Miss, Did you have prior jobs po..before entering Inquirer?
Dipasupil: Yes but that’s a long story
Aniceto: Ahh long story po. *laughs*
Dipasupil: I think this will be my what.. fifth paper? I worked for “The Journal” (Aniceto: the journal…) I worked for M alaya
Aniceto: uh-huh..
Dipasupil: The Manila Times, Philippine Daily Globe, Manila Standard and then the Inquirer
Aniceto: And then the Inquirer po. (Dipasupil: Yes for six newspapers) Ah okay. So, uhmm.. So.. obviously po hindi niyo po masasagot yung next question which is..
Dipasupil: Obviously because I’m only starting..
Aniceto: Early years noh?
Dipasupil: But I tell you.. I don’t know if I’m lucky.. I would prefer to work on my way down. *laughs* They gave me the job Editor right away except for a very brief period.
Aniceto: Uhmm.. Miss woud you know po if ano.. If Inquirer had a prior office to this one?
Dipasupil: Yes I think they moved three times.
Aniceto: Three times po?
Dipasupil: In Edsa then they went to the Star. It used to be with the Star..
Aniceto: Ah.. in..
Dipasupil: In Port Area and then they had one in Romualdez near United Nations and I think this is their f,ourth.
Aniceto: Ah the fourth po na.. Ah okay.. Miss in terms of work po like what time do you start po? Tapos what time do you end?
Dipasupil: Hmm.. Usually we’re very flexible with hours but then.. You wait for the stories to come from the reporters so.. that means they do their stories in the morning and my job as an editor is to edit the input (Aniceto: The input..) for it so around uhmm.. Except for two days, I’m supposed to be here from 10:30.. As early as 10:30 (Aniceto: As early as 10:30) except for Thursdays and Fridays. The rest of the week, I would come here at around 4, 4:30 (Aniceto: Wow!) and I log off at around 11 (Aniceto: 11 in the evening) um-hmm..
Aniceto: Ah okay tapos miss in terms of Holidays, I’m guessing wala talagang holidays noh?
Dipasupil: No. As you can see, now it’s a holiday and I’m here now working. I have never spent Christmas or Easter or New Year at home with my family (Aniceto: Wow!) I only spend it uhh.. you know.. working on the newspaper. A paper comes out everyday so.. I’m here virtually everyday except on my days off.
Aniceto: On your days off..
Dipasupil: Ay we do have days off.
Martie: And how often is that?
Dipasupil: I think this is the only paper where it allows reporters and editors to have uhmm.. two days (Aniceto: two days?) .. two days off because usually it’s not. The other papers I’ve worked with talagang Monday to Saturday yan. (Aniceto: Monday to Saturday..) So the Inquirer I think it’s something that we women bargained for and it was implemented last year. That was our new arrangement (Aniceto: Sakto..) Two days off.
Martie: Two days a year??
Dipasupil: No two days.. Every week!
Aniceto: Every week?! Grabe kala ko every year.
Martie: Sorry I was like..
Dipasupil: Saturdays and Sundays but then for ano.. I ask to be off on those days.
Aniceto: Ahh.. ok and then.. so like.. kapag nagwowork po, ano yung mga problems usually na na-eencounter niyo po?
Dipasupil: Well usually, it’s the eight daily hours and the deadlines..
Aniceto: Deadlines po?
Dipasupil: Sometimes, oo. We have reporters who don’t report properly as you could, yung language, yung way and it’s expensive because pag na-lalate yung story mo, na-lalate yung pag-edit ko, nalate yun, nalalate.. di siya mapupunta.. (Aniceto: sa paper.. di mapiprint.) sa paper sa eroplano because sa airplane you know.. the paper goes to the provinces. The plane will not wait for you. Diba? So naiiwan.. So yan ang one of the things that we encounter. If you have late stories, late.. deadlines are late, hindi na gagamitin diyaryo mo. So, that’s why we try to strive for yung deadline compliance. So you know.. you sort of.. Linalatigo mo araw-araw, you make all that.. “that’s supposed to be their job”. Sometimes, there are those who work slow (Aniceto: na parang..) yeah.. So, it’s really a daily thing. No matter where I worked for, that’s always the.. (Aniceto: the normal..) the normal. Yeah, Deadline Compliance. Sometimes kasi, ito ha.. It’s difficult to get the interviewee naman there. For example, there’s a fire, an on-going thing, you have to wait for that story. Di mo naman pwedeng sabihin, “Uy patayin mo muna yung sunog!” You know the fire.. (Aniceto: Yes, it ends..) it ends when it wants to end. So, yun. Those are the stories na na-lalate ka kung minsan.
Aniceto: Ahh…
Dipasupil: Floods (Aniceto: or earthquakes) Natural calamities na.. you know.. there are forces beyond our control.. or Coup.. Coup d'etat.. (Aniceto: Coup d' tat)
Aniceto: Tapos
Dipasupil: There’s also one major problem.. yung libel.
Aniceto: Ahh! Libel.. of course libel! Si sir made us memorize it kasi we become part of the media.. We have to really know what it is.
Dipasupil: Pagka- libel, ang editor palaging sabit not only the reporter. (Aniceto: yeah oo nga po..) Uhmm.. Kasi it’s his name.. and my name (Aniceto: your name din po..) is there, then that spells a lot of responsibility. It’s not just all our opinions everyday.
Aniceto: Miss, ano po yung printing press na gamit ninyo ngayon?
Dipasupil: haynaku, ayan ay wala akong alam
Aniceto: ahh printing press. Ayy okay lang
Dipasupil: it’s part of the production. Thats the job of the production, of the production people. Our job is just looking at the copy, seeing it is not libelous, seeing its grammar is good, the facts are right and then I edit it. Because they have the entire media department for that
Aniceto: Miss, would you know anything pa about a ‘cub’ reporter?
Dipasupil: What about a ‘cub’ reporter?
Aniceto: we supposedly encounter the cub reporter…We don’t know what a cub reporter is kasi
Dipasupil: a cub reporter is usually someone who wants to get in. he’s starting for the very first time. So wala pang previous knowledge..for you are actually assigned with a reporter who is on the beat. For example, some of our trainees are some of those who have practicum with us, who want to learn how. minsan, mga graduating students from different schools. They come here, they cub with us. They are somebody who applies out of..Oo. tapos pasasamahin naman ngayon sa reporter..For example we force her to stand in front of the Police. so kasama siya. so he or she learns how it is to be a reporter by being with the reporter the whole day. So ayun ang cub. hindi ko alam yung cub kasi yung ibang cub yung mga bears, tigers na inaalalayan ng mga ano Inaalalayan na ng, ano, ng (Aniceto: parents)
Dipasupil: so sumasama sila. they learn how it is to get a story, to develop a story idea, to write a story and to write it in a framework that’s preferably on time because there are stories that reach the editor late. mumurahin ka niyan. There, that’s what a cub reporter is. Essentially he’s someone who tags along with the reporter to learn by training on the job
Aniceto: ahh parang OJT?
Dipasupil: Oo, OJT. Bali tama ka talaga. Kung may sunog, kasama ka sa may sunog. Kung may..kung meron man coup, kung meron..kailangan kausapin si Ping Lacson or yung president Oo, sasama ka sa reporter and to get the coverage and then he also sends the story to the editor para nakikita ng editor ‘O, meron ba siya natutunan dun sa..’ gagawa rin siya. for example, I will grade him to see if he’s fit na to join us as a regular reporter, or in the case somebody undergoing practicum naintindihan ba niya kung ano talaga. So I will also grade him.
Aniceto: okay
Dipasupil: so he has to submit his own story unedited by the person he’s cubbing with. I always tell them, give me a raw copy, don’t give me a copy that you also already edited kasi, and send it to me, kasi I will be the judge eh kung naintindihan niya. Did he get the skills that he’s supposed to need
Aniceto: Miss, ano po yung, the first beat? We just saw it
Dipasupil: kasi, usually people, the cubs, usually start with.. like the Metro is an ideal page ahhh for people to start reporting because as a Metro reporter you cover the big beat
(Aniceto: opo)
Dipasupil: for example, naka assign ka. Ikaw, reporter ka sa Manila. You will cover Manila Police Department, the mayor’s office-Mayor Lim, mayor and the vice mayor, the counselor and also the Manila court. Like lahat ng..Metro Manila is divided into 17 cities. There are 17 cities in Metro Manila. All of them have courts of their own. So lahat yan may mga kasong naka assign. So they, the reporter, the Metro reporter for Manila will cover the plea, and then the mayor’s office.ayan. lahat yan. And then, kapag nakagraduate (claps) na sila they usually move on to the bigger beat. Hindi na sila Metro. They cover na the Senate, Malacanan, House, and the different government agencies. Department, the different departments..the department of justice, department of labor. All the departments. Yun nga. And as they grow older you can look at it and say na nakuha nila sa Metro. sa Metro lahat nakokoberan mo. Inaasume mo when you move on to the bigger beats which we call the national beat
Aniceto: national beat
Dipasupil: because hindi na Metro Manila yung cinocover niya
Aniceto: National level na siya
Dipasupil: there’s a promotion. It’s sort of a promotion then you move on to business. From there you cub in the Metro then you move on to the national beat
Aniceto: then bigger, national already
Dipasupil: yes. You don’t get to interview the president (dru laughs) right away
Aniceto: of course not
Dipasupil: so you start with the Metro
Aniceto: ahh so hindi pala yung different sectors agad yung cocoverin mo
Dipasupil: ….kailang ka pro-promote, kailangan mas malaking beat. Ayun
Aniceto: okay. Tapos are there any past editors po na you’ll always remember po?
Dipasupil: oh yes I will always remember Joe Burgos. I don’t know if you know Joe Burgos
Aniceto: Joe Burgos? Familiar po
Dipasupil: he was from Malaya. He’s an icon of press freedom. The one paper even
reformed ahead of the Inquirer that fought against Marcos as a result of improper governance. He was put in jail. And we were there. I was in Malaya when he was..malapit na ma-lift ang Martial Law. So we were the first to report on what happened in 1986. People’s power. Wala pang Inquirer noon eh. Kasi wala pang Malaya- sa Inquirer toh. They called it the Mosquito Press because (Aniceto: ay yeah. Pests daw) Oo, they were working underground. We had no faciltity cause although we..kasi takot ka..diba takot ka military lahat?
Dipasupil: we usually borrow phones- phones of the neighbors to get our stories done, to get our stories printed. We were relying on the kindness of people, to you know, get rid of the government. And he was once a very very prolific person. He stood up for what he believed and he’s, he’s my hero you can say. He’s my hero. I’ve never met anyone like him ever. I mean, I’ve been, I’ve had so many bosses.
Aniceto: Besides editors po baka there are other people pa po na..
Dipasupil: ah, influences…maybe I like columnists. I like reading the columns of Conrado De Quiros
Aniceto: ah okay, Conrado De Quiros
Dipasupil: Oo. I like reading ____who used to be my editor. He’s also in the Inquirer
Aniceto: How is he po as an editor?
Dipasupil: ohh..he’s very very particular about accuracy, if your grammar is accurate. Accuracy is very important in getting the story right. He’s very particular about that. And he also wrote in a very clear, simple style everybody understood whether you were trained or worked or in college or a professional. Everybody thinks that for the right paper, Kailangan mabibigat yung salita mo. Ah no, its not a very common agent. everybody should be able to understand. So you write actually for someone whose level of education is from the 6th grade up
Aniceto: oh okay. We’re down to our last question
Aniceto: The last question is uhmm.. the most memorable event po that you can remember as a newspaper editor?
Dipasupil: Ahh.. I think it was 1986 yung people power.
Aniceto: People power po talaga?
Dipasupil: Because talagang everybody.. you know.. Everybody was out and we tell that we had a hand you know in exposing.. it started with an expose of Malaya of the fake war medals ni Marcos for which he jailed Mr. Burgos Kaya nga.. wala pa nga ako doon eh.. I was with the journal then. It was a controlled press so when we were kicked out by Mr. Romualdez, that’s when I joined Malaya. It’s very ironic because now, I work for his daughter-in-law, Cocoy Romualdez who is the brother-in-law of President Marcos. His son married the daughter of the owner of Inquirer.
Dipasupil: Hindi ba sobrang ironic? But then that’s one of my ano.. I think that.. even the other coup’s and the (Aniceto: yeah..) 1986 because it meant a lot of tension. It meant that you know.. the press then was very free before the Marshall law controlled the press. May control then nawala bigla so we were free again and right now we’re doing pretty well with the experience. Although, I’m quite sad na hindi naman na fulfill yung what it meant to fulfill.. I’m quite sad about that because parang.. we’re back to square one. That’s what I feel bad about. So, yun.
Aniceto: So, that’s all po. Thank you po!
Dipasupil: That’s all! Ok!
Martie: Thank you! Thank you so much!
Dipasupil: I dunno if that will do
Martie: It’s ok!
Aniceto: It will po!

Ester G. Dipasupil was born on Sept. 20, 1953 in Metro Manila. She graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, and pursued a Master of Arts degree in Magazine Journalism at Ohio State University. People’s Journal, The Leader Magazine, Woman Today, Philippine Daily Globe, Manila Standard, Manila Times, Malaya Sunday Magazine are just a few of many newspapers and magazines which she worked for. At the time of the interview, she was Metro editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.